My Green Glasses

Thoreau is stalking me with Walden

// January 26th, 2010 // No Comments » // Green Living

Yes I am an English major and I have never read Walden by Henry David Thoreau. There, I said it. Now you can throw things at me. I have read excerpts, but that doesn’t count. Now is the best time to read it, especially since I think Thoreau is stalking me. For those that are unfamiliar with this American classic, Walden is the journal of Thoreau’s experience living in a one room cabin at Walden’s Pond in Massachusetts from 1845 to 1847.  In Walden, he records his thoughts and encounters with nature and society.

Stalker Case #1 – Last week, my husband and I went on a double-date with old friends. We all ended up at Barnes and Noble after dinner – hey, we’re parents……don’t judge our free time. It was there that I picked up Walden because the cover was amazing and it was only 6 bucks. My husband said, we have that at home, so I didn’t buy it.

Stalker Case #2 – Our church just finished its series called “Simplify” and I was finally getting it at the end. See my previous post called “The House that God will Build.” I am completely enthralled by living a more simple life. I have already made a few trips to Goodwill and stopped buying junk.

Stalker Case #3 – My husband found Walden. Not only was it the first box he opened, but it ended up being a 3rd edition from 1965 that he bought in a second-hand bookstore in New York City BEFORE we started dating. We went to NYC for a journalism conference when I was the college newspaper editor and he was the designer. It was fate.

Stalker Case #4 – Tonight, I’m sitting at Barnes and Noble working on my Green Building classwork, when I look up from my table and notice the decor on the wall. (Yes, see the photo). There it is…..I think I got the message LOUD and CLEAR.

Ready to move forward, oh and this house plan is good.

// January 21st, 2010 // No Comments » // Green Living

Our family is ready for our new house.  The EMHE is over! Sunday was our last day at EMHE and we stopped by Willow Sands Farm to drop some things off. [For those that don't know, Willow Sands Farm is next door to our future home]. Unexpectedly, Peyton was also dropped-off to play with Zoey, so Philip and I were able to volunteer at EMHE most of the day. Peyton was so happy because her and Zoey are basically the same age. They really enjoyed their time together. It will be better spent once we move there. Confirmation that this was the right decision and we are ready. Back to EMHE….it was a very productive day; we were in the home stretch and by then, we were simply helping out where we could and picking up litter/recyclables along the site. We spent quality time with our future neighbors and even met up with EMHE Design Celebrities (sorry, no Ty Pennington). Our friend, Christy, said this was the most fun she has had all week, recycling with us! Another confirmation! We were able to see the final results of the build and really soak in all its beauty. The quality of Sterling Homes’ work is unbeatable, at least to us. The EMHE resembles a barn, but it is in the country and it’s gorgeous!

During this time of EMHE, Philip and I were able to think hard about our new house. Philip may have looked at more than 250 house plans in a week and probably emailed about half of those to me with comments. I did look at them, but none hit me until the one he sent today. It was all on one floor, which was what I wanted originally. There were a few changes to it, but nothing complicated. Philip emailed it to our builder today. Hopefully we will hear from them before EMHE comes knocking again.

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

// December 31st, 2009 // No Comments » // Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Green Living

I am ready for 2009 to end and 2010 to start. If I had to give the year 2009 a name, it would be “Time to Move On” because sometimes you just have to leave things in the past and move forward with your life.

It has been a long year and everything about our lives has shifted to another phase.

Time to Move On: Limestone Lane House. I knew that when we bought the house at Limestone Lane, it would not be our forever home. We loved the neighborhood, the location and the idea of the house. It next door to the college where we me and on a safe culdesac. I will miss memories from that house more than anything and I’m actually getting a little teary-eyed just thinking about this. Limestone Lane represents our first house together as a married couple and our first baby’s home.

We repaired, decorated, repainted and reconstructed many parts of the house. We painted all the rooms, opened up the kitchen, reconstructed the guest bathroom and even tried to resurface the pool. There has been a lot of laughing and a fair share of crying in that house. I also painted a mural in Peyton’s room that will be greatly missed. However, most of our memories were contained inside the house. We have a few memories outside because we never really enjoyed the backyard. There was no screened porch and no fence around the pool, so between mosquitos and a toddler, the house was not enjoyable outside. Also, this house was definitely not energy or water efficient. All of our bills were steep, no matter how many lights we turned off or how many times we turned the faucet off while brushing our teeth. The house symbolized more than what we could realistically do with it. It was time to move on.

Time to Move On: Building Our Dream. Since purchasing land in 2008, we hoped to start building before now. We listed our house twice and finally sold it in the fall of 2009. We were lucky. So the process started to build our dream home. It is a long road due to several factors: timing, planning, finances, decisions, and the Extreme Makeover Home Edition project. Okay, the last factor is a special circumstance that is definitely forgiven. I will personally be involved with the EMHE project on a recycling standpoint and Philip will be helping friends in the catering tents. (More blogging to come soon!) We have met with Sterling Homes to build our house because we know them and are confident with their quality and dedication in building. Plus, they are involved in the Environments for Living Program that will make our house a certified green home. We couldn’t ask for anything more! However, until the EMHE project is complete, our house project is on hold. If you want to check it out, Extreme Horry is the website. As a part of the event, there will be an Extreme Food Drive to benefit food pantries in Horry County.

2010: A Year of Building. I believe that 2010 will be a year of building for our family. We will be building a home that is sustainable, green and hopefully, our forever home. We will be building into our family to make our love, faith and trust stronger. Hopefully, our family will expand too in this new home. We hope to build into our friendships with our new neighbors, which are old friends of ours. Building into our church will be another part of 2010 for us as we’d like to meet new friends and participate in church activities. 2010 will be a year of building for us and I’m looking forward to it. Let’s build!

The Green Road Ahead is Extremely Long

// December 28th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Green Living

I have always been told that building your own house is a long process and that we should have patience, consideration and thoughtfulness. However, I didn’t really realize how long this could take, until now. Ok, honestly, I have to cut the process a little slack because we started this project the week before Thanksgiving and ran smack into Christmas. Family, good tidings and cheer does take precedence over building our new house – I guess. But now, we have run into another roadblock in the process, although I suppose I shouldn’t complain all too much because it is a very exciting roadblock. Our builder will have to change their business cards to reflect a “3 Time Builder for Extreme Makeover Home Edition”.

Oh yes, the Extreme Makeover Home Edition will be building a new home in our area with our builder, but it won’t be our home. Although, maybe we could share the resources and get this all done together in one week!? Wishful thinking, busted.

Our builder is Sterling Homes and we have been meeting with Bruce Atkins since November, he has taken a lot of time with us and us with him. Patience is a virtue, especially in planning and building a house. We didn’t want to rush into anything and our conversations with Bruce have been all positive and encouraging that we are making the right decisions. We received a floor layout and we’ve been waiting for the rest, including the price. We have a long road ahead of us. Then we hear a rumor about the EMHE coming to our area and I get the phone call that says, “Now you know why your house is taking so long.” Ok you got me. I suppose we can wait until after the Extreme Home Makeover Edition project in Horry County is completed to start ours! Although, it’s not really just a one week delay because a lot of planning goes into these projects before they happen. I’m looking forward to the day when I’m sitting on the backporch with my fireplace roaring and a glass of wine, thinking, “We could have been in here sooner, if it wasn’t for that EMHE project.” Haha – that was a bad joke. I think the project is a blessing for the family and this community. I look forward to seeing great things in the coming weeks!

A Green Burning Fireplace

// December 21st, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Energy Efficiency, Green Living

Who doesn’t love the crackling warmth and coziness of a fireplace? My husband and I put this feature at the top of our list for our new home. We really want a functional outdoor space – a covered screened porch with a fireplace – and an inviting indoor space – a fireplace with cozy couches and a tv above – very exciting! With this desired feature, a question comes to mind – how can this be green and eco-friendly? Burning wood produces smoke and destroys trees? How much will this all cost and is it worth it?

WOOD burning fireplace. Our outside fireplace will be wood-burning (particularly for the smell and ambiance) and here some ways I found that we can make it green. One is to buy local wood or logs made from recycled material – most of these green logs are made from recycled sawdust and natural waxes and actually are available at Walmart! Another is to burn dry hardwoods – dense wood (birch, oak or hickory) produces more heat, less smoke and is more efficient than lightweight wood (pine or fir). Burning damp wood only creates more smoke and less efficiency. The big thing is to not burn garbage or treated wood because it releases toxins and poison into the air.

There are a couple other alternative fuel options for eco-friendly fireplaces, that we are looking at for indoors:
ETHANOL burning fireplace. Ethanol is an absolute alcohol, produced by the fermentation of sugars originating from agricultural and forestry products; mainly sugarcane, potatoes, bananas, beetroot and recently from cereals such as wheat. Ethanol is an alternative fuel that is not widely available. Most all regular gas stations have a blend of ethanol and gasoline, which would not work for a fireplace. I found an ethanol station locator map on the US DOE website. Unfortunately in my area, ethanol is for private use only. Looks like we’d have to purchase our fuel off the internet or local hardware store, one site I found sells four 1-gallon jugs for $100. According to one of the fireplace websites, which at least gives me a point of reference, it burns about 0.17 gallon of ethanol an hour, or 24 hours of fireplace time. Modern Companies: EcoGreen Fire and EcoSmart Fire

PROPANE burning fireplace. Our land doesn’t have natural gas line, so we’d have to get a propane tank from a local propane company. Propane is clean, non-toxic and emits less carbon dioxide than coal. We’d likely use the propane for the indoor fireplace, the tankless water heater and the outdoor grill. There are several options for a propane tank and the size tank will depend on its usage. The following website shares a good general idea of propane tanks and what you may need to be aware of, such as location of tank vs. truck to fill the tank: Build Your Own Home.

The fireplaces are very important to us because we love a good fireside chat. We’ll be able to enjoy this space with our friends and family, relax after a day of work or on the weekends. Yes, for us, it will all be worth it.